Love Always Wins_Ali Edwards, stitching_Anna Aspnes
So, I love a day (or weekend) set aside to celebrate love.
It just so happened that my husband did not have to work even one shift this weekend! That only happens every once in a while, and it turned out to be this weekend! How lucky am I? As a result, we seemed to be celebrating all weekend.
Saturday, we spent getting ready for Jess' party. She had 7 of her girlfriends over for a Valentine's Day party. She made cupcakes and icing in the afternoon. Once the girls arrived, they spent time decorating the cupcakes with all of the fun sprinkles, candies, chocolate chips and icing. Then they went downstairs with their newly personalized cupcakes to watch Romeo + Juliette.
Sean, Ashley and I spent the evening up in our bedroom watching our own movie (What Happens in Vegas), on our new bedroom-sized TV, and of course, the hockey game. We snatched a few cupcakes for ourselves to enjoy, which was great until I kept feeling crumbs throughout the night!
Sunday morning we were awakened by a rustling at our bedroom door. Ashley brought in trays of breakfast for us! She had been up early to make us heart-shaped chocolate banana pancakes. On the side she even included a slice of apple trimmed into a heart shape. I was thoroughly impressed. When the girls were much younger they would make us breakfast in bed, consisting of an odd assortment of cereals and things that we weren't quite sure what we were eating. It has been a while and I must say, that the cooking skills have jumped up a notch or two over the years! Thanks Ash! xoxo
In the afternoon, we drove out toward the mountains and met my parents in Bragg Creek for brunch. It was a clear, sunny day and not even too cold! After a lovely Italian brunch, we walked around to some of the shops in the area. Mom and I found these great knitted ponchos that I cannot wait to wear. All of the kids (my husband included) went crazy at the candy store...as if the Valentine candy in our house right now was not enough.
On Monday morning, I had set out the girls Valentine packages along with a few other goodies. I bought them heart-shaped jewelry boxes, Valentine kleenex, pink and red heart-shaped paper clips and a set of notecards + envelopes that have their initial monogrammed on the front. It made my heart happy to see their pleasure.
On Monday afternoon I received a text message from Sean telling me we had 'to be somewhere' for 6pm. Another text came soon after asking, 'If you were a cheesecake, what flavor would you be?' He is subtle like that. I arrived home to a dozen fresh white roses all carefully arranged in a vase on the kitchen island. I love flowers. I love it when my husband makes plans even more!
Our dinner reservations were at a fantastic restaurant that we love called Red Water Grill. It is the sort of menu that you would never cook on your own...or at least I wouldn't. It is all exotic flavors and ingredients and combinations of food that I would not even know where to shop for! While waiting for our order, the waitress brought us a mini loaf of fresh-baked bread and red beet + cinnamon butter...it was pink! And that was only the beginning.
I loved the food. I loved the fact that he made reservations. I loved getting dressed up. I loved going out alone with my husband. But most of all, I loved having uninterrupted conversation with him. Those are the moments that strengthen a marriage and I needed that.
He told me I couldn't have dessert at the restaurant and when we returned home, I saw why. My husband had picked up a piece of cheesecake for each of us (the girls included) and picked out the exact flavors that we would have chosen (hmmmm...how'd he do that?). I was impressed that he thought to include our daughters in this celebration, since they did not come with us to the restaurant.
All in all, a wonderful weekend of memories...now I just need to scrap them all so I can remember this forever!
